


You Could be so Much More

by Oakwyrm



Series: What Could Be and What Should Be [1]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Pining, Sad Castiel, one-sided but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-10
Updated: 2014-11-10
Packaged: 2018-02-24 21:29:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2597024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oakwyrm/pseuds/Oakwyrm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>WARNING: If you haven't watched Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1 episode 8, firstly what the hell are you doing looking for fanfiction? Secondly, don't read, minor spoilers.</p><p>Castiel sighed as he looked at Dean. Dean who was absolutely sure the world was going to end in fire, who thought violence was the only answer. Dean who he loved, but could never have.<br/>If only Dean Winchester had been born in the 24th century.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Could be so Much More

Time travel was not rare among angels, in fact, it was very common. With all the appointments they had had to keep back in the day, you kinda needed time travel to manage your schedule. Not to mention it had gotten Castiel and his siblings, mainly Gabriel, out of too many scrapes to count when they were younger. Unfortunately time travel couldn't fix everything. It couldn't fix the fact that one look at Lieutenant Worf and Dean would snap into "shoot first ask questions never" mode. It couldn't fix that one stray comment from someone as gentle as Deanna Troi would have her bleeding on the floor before security could get to her, or at the very least with a gun to her head. It couldn't fix that broken little boy without a childhood to call his own.

Castiel wanted to show Dean what humanity would become. He wanted, oh how desperately he wanted to show Dean the world of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. He wanted to show Dean the marvels of the universe, the Klingon Empire and their customs, the Edo, Dean would like the Edo, the far reaches of the endless galaxies, where his Father's influence didn't reach. Hell, Castiel would even show Dean the Borg, though he would make sure to keep himself and Dean completely hidden when he did so.

But Castiel understood. He understood and it pained him. He understood that Dean could never understand a world where a Ferengi vessel could show clear signs of hostility towards a Federation ship and be hailed and asked for an explanation instead of shot on sight. Scratch that, Dean wouldn't even understand the Federation. He understood that Dean couldn't possibly understand why no hunters existed. He wouldn't accept that the supernatural beings that had been such a threat in the 21st century had taken the first chance they got and escaped the living hell that was WWIII earth and found their own Class-M planet. A planet the Federation had yet to find themselves. He wouldn't accept that, with the evolution of humanity ghosts had ceased to exist. Sam might, in time, for Dean, it would take too long.

Castiel watched Dean struggle for what the elder Winchester thought was a doomed world, a doomed race and it hurt. It hurt to see the pain on Dean's face, it hurt to see Dean struggle through his existence, thinking his fight was futile but refusing to give up. Then again, maybe it was because of people like Dean Winchester that the earth had been saved for people like Jean-Luc and his crew.

Most of all, though, it hurt to know that Dean had been born here, in this century. If he had only been born a couple hundred years later Castiel wouldn't need to keep a tight lock on his feelings. He pretended not to notice the way the elder Winchester looked at him, all the subtle hints that showed Castiel _exactly_ what he both longed for, and dreaded, to see. He knew that Dean was in love with him, weather Dean knew or not was up for debate, but Castiel knew, and it hurt. It hurt more than his own feelings of loss to know that, had things been different, they could have been more than they were without endangering their lives.

In the 24th century the ban on human-angel relationships had been abandoned. Even Raphael admitted that humanity had managed to surprise him in the best of ways with their progress. Nephilim were still frowned upon by angels, but old prejudices are hard to let go of, especially if you had lived with them since the creation of humanity. Gabriel had been the one who let go easiest, in fact, he'd been the one to abolish the ban on the creation of Nephilim, ironically.

Then again that might not be so surprising considering the fact that he had so many... odd children of his own. Castiel would never forget the day he first met his nephew Midgardsimmer. That would not be easy to forget, even for a human. For Castiel, absolutely impossible. Hel had also been a big surprise, but mostly because of her name.

Castiel smiled to himself as he remembered the bone-crushing hug Thor had given him. There was, after all, a rather substantial time gone from old grievances between Loki and the Norse Gods. The rest of Gabriel's adopted family, however, had not been that keen on Castiel or the other angels. Apparently the converting-of-the-followers had not been forgotten.

“Hey Cas!” Dean yelled, making the angel snap out of his thoughts. “Get your feathery ass over here!” Castiel pushed himself off the wall where he'd been leaning and walked over to the table, leaning over Dean's shoulder to examine the laptop screen and the papers and books littered around it.

“A witch-vampire team up?” he questioned. Stranger things had happened. Dean nodded.

“Wanna tag along?” he asked and Castiel gave a non-committal affirmative. It wouldn't hurt to get his mind off melancholy thoughts.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what this is...
> 
> No, wait, actually I do. It's a combination of two of my favourite series.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it, tell me if I should continue. I'm probably going to anyway, but encouragement would be nice if you have some to offer.


End file.
